Meeting with the most important opposition leader of Africa who died in prison for his plot against Nkrumah

General News of Wednesday, February 6, 2019

Source: face2faceafrica.com

2019-02-06

Ghana is the first black African country to become independent of colonial rule and the country's history books will not be complete without the story of Joseph Kwame Kyeretwie Boakye Danquah, lawyer, historian, academic and chief executive of the opposition died in detention in February. 4, 1965.

Danquah's political career began in London when he was a student at University College London, where he was studying for a PhD in Philosophy after obtaining a B.A. degree in Philosophy in 1925.

He took part in student politics while working on his thesis as the first president of the famous West African Student Union (WASU), created in August 1925 by 21 law students. Kwame Nkrumah was his vice-president in 1945.

The union was led by Nigerian students Ladipo Solanke and Herbert Bankole-Bright, who had the support of the Ghanaian journalist, publisher, author, lawyer, educator and politician, JE Casely Hayford, who was the first sponsor of WASU .

Danquah led the affairs of WASU, which led a campaign against racism and colonialism and fought to improve the well-being of all African students in London.

As the first editor of the West Africa Student Union (WASU) magazine, Danquah has also promoted the nationalism and independence of Africa in West Africa.

Danquah was called to the bar in 1926 after entering the Inner Temple. In 1927, he returned to the Gold Coast (now Ghana) to begin his private law firm, just six years after his brother, Nana Sir Ofori Atta I, sent him to Britain to read Law.

The pan-Africanist spirit of J. B. Danquah was revived in 1929 when he helped J. E. Casely Hayford to found the Gold Coast Youth Conference (GCYC). Two years later, he founded the newspaper West Africa Times, which was the first newspaper of the colony between 1931 and 1935.

In 1935, he joined the London-based panafricanist organization, International African Friends of Ethiopia, as an executive member. His struggle for independence led him to become a member of the Legislative Council in 1946 to fight for legislation on independence.

A year later, in 1947, he founded the first political party of the independence of the colony, the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC), composed of academics, chiefs and lawyers, whose George Alfred Grant (Paa Grant), lumber merchant and politician heavily funded the party; Robert Benjamin Blay; A. Awoonor-Williams; Edward Akufo-Addo; and Emmanuel Obetsebi-Lamptey.

Kwame Nkrumah was invited by JB Danquah to join the new party as secretary general after being recommended by Gold Coast lawyer Ebenezer Ako-Adjei, who had met him at the University. from Lincoln and knew about his activism.

Nkrumah accepted the salary of £ 250 and the £ 100 boat ticket paid by Paa Grant from Liverpool to the Gold Coast to fill the post of Secretary General of the UGCC.

The purpose of Nkrumah's invitation was to deliberately set up party structures in the country's towns and villages, a task that Nkrumah carried out enormously.

The last days of J. B. Danquah on his prison bed in the Nsawam medium security prison

Just two months after Nkrumah's employment, a riot and looting took place in Accra following the murder of former soldiers who were participating in a protest march. Colonial authorities pointed to the UGCC and arrested six key leaders, including Kwame Nkrumah and J. B. Danquah. They are commonly called "the big six".

The six leaders spent a month in jails across the country, without organizing the protest, which killed 29 people, including 237 wounded and 2 million pounds of damaged property.

After their release, Nkrumah returned to work and mobilized groups of young politicians to form the Youth Organization Committee (CYO). He also created The Evening News to solicit more support for the UGCC.

Nkrumah's agility towards people and his responsiveness created strategic conflicts with J. B. Danquah and the UGCC leaders who thought he was pursuing a personal goal.

Nkrumah separated from the UGCC in 1949 and formed the Convention People's Party (CPP) with the youths he had recruited for the UGCC. He launched it in Saltpond, where the UGCC was formed, and adopted the slogan "Self Government Now," which is an abbreviated version of the UGCC's slogan, "Self Government Withing The In short possible time.

Danquah and other UGCC leaders have also been attacked through publications in The Evening News reporting allegations of corruption and questionable practices. These actions provoked tensions between the two main political parties.

Nkrumah's party gained more popularity than the UGCC, which did not win the majority in the first elections to the Legislature under the new constitution of 1951. L & # 39; UGCC disbanded after the poor performance and Nkrumah became "Leader of Government Business" then Prime Minister after the country gained independence on March 6, 1957.

In the year of independence, smaller parties, including the Ashanti-based National Liberation Movement (NLM), advocate some form of federal government; the Northern People's Party; Party of the Muslim Association; Anlo youth organization and Ga Shifimo Kpee were formed on a regional and religious basis.

All parties merged to form the United Party (UP) in 1957, when the government pbaded the Prevention of Discrimination Act, which prohibited the constitution of any political group based on ethnicity or religion.

The opposition UP was led by J. B. Danquah, who was leading the fight against the dictatorial tendencies of the PCP. The antagonism against Nkrumah and the PCP resulted in political violence in Kumasi after independence. 5,000 people were displaced and the government declared the state of emergency.

In 1958, the notorious Preventive Detention Act (PDA) was approved by the National Assembly, which provided for the mbad detention of members of the opposition, including J. B. Danquah himself.

J. B. Danquah lost again to Kwame Nkrumah in the presidential election of April 27, 1960, during which a plebiscite on the question of the transformation of Ghana into a republic was organized. UP's Danquah won only 11% of the vote and Nkrumah of the PPC became president with 89% of the vote.

After the proclamation of the Republic of Ghana on July 1, 1960, strikes and demonstrations struck the country. On 3 October 1961, J. B. Danquah and 63 other opponents of Nkrumah were arrested and detained under the PDA.

Released from his detention on June 22, 1962, J. B. Danquah continued his strong opposition to the PCP government and Kwame Nkrumah, who had survived a series of bombings and badbadinations despite increased opposition.

On 8 January 1964, the leader of the opposition, J. B. Danquah, was again arrested and imprisoned in the Nsawam medium security prison for allegedly plotting to overthrow President Nkrumah. Three weeks after his detention, a referendum was held for a one-party political system and he was overwhelmingly supported by voters.

One year after his detention without trial, J. B. Danquah died of a heart attack in prison on February 4, 1965.

The National Liberation Council (CNL), which had overthrown Nkrumah during a coup d'etat led by General Joseph Ankrah on February 24, 1966, had honored him with a national funeral.

His legacy is perpetuated after 54 years in 2019 by the ruling party, the New Patriot Party, which is led by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, J.B. Danquah's nephew.